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The Centennial Bill. 



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OF 



HON. JOHN P. STOCKTON, 



OF 2SrE"V7" JE£^SE"3r, 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



MAH^OH: 6, 1874:. 






WASHTNGTOK: 

JOHN H. CUNNINGHAM, PR 
1874. 




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OF 

P. ST 



Mr. STOCKTOI>r.# I have an amendment to offer to the amendment 
of my Colleas^oe, which I send to the desk to be read. 

The PRES'lDmO- OFFICER, (Mr. Anthony in the chair.) The Sen- 
ator from 'New Jersey offers an amendment to the amendment, which 
will be read. 

The Chief Clerk. The proposed amendment is to add : 

And with additional instructions that the exhibition to be hekl in commemoration o^* 
the one hundredth anniversary of American iudepejidynce, shall be international in its 
character, so to exhibit the progress of the United States in the industries and arts bene- 
ficial to mankind, in comparison with those of oid'rr nations, as provided in tiie act of 
Congress approved March 3, 1871. 

Mr. STOCKTON. I should like to ask the Clerk to read the original 
act of 1871, which I have in my hand, in explanation of that amendment. 
The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

An act to provide for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of American indepen- 
dence, by holding an international exhibition of arts, manuf actvu-es and products of the 
soil and mine, in the city of Philadelphia, and State of Pvinnsylvania, in the ^''ear 1876. 

Whereas the Declaration of Independence of llie United States of America, was pre- 
pared, signed, and promulgated in trie year 177G, iii the city of Philadelphia ; and whereas 
it behooves the people of tiie United States to celfJ)rate, by aijpropriate ceremonies, the 
centennial anniversary of this memorable and decisive ev'.>nt, which constituted tli^ 4th 
day of July, A. D. 1776, the birthda}^ of the nation J and whereas it is deemed fitting that 
the completion of the first century of our national tixistence shall be commemorated by an 
exhibition of the natural resources ol the country and their development, and of its pro- 
gress in those arts which benefit mankind, in comptiison with those of older nations ; and 
whereas no place is so appropriate for such an exhibition as the city in vviiich occurred the 
event it is designed tu commemorate ; and whereas as the exhibition should be a national 
celebration, in which the people of the whole couiitry shorJd participate, it should have 
the sanction of the Congress of the United States : Therefore, 

Be it enacted by the Seriate and House of Represe) tatives of the United States of Afnerica 
in Congress assembled, That an exliibition of AuKrican and foreign arts, products and 
manufactures, shall be held, mider the auspices of the Government of the United Stales, 
iii the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1876. 

Sec. 2. That a commission to consist of not mo.^e than one delegate from each State, 
and from each Territory of the United States, whose functions shall continue until the 
close of the exhibition, shall be constiluted, whose duty it shall be to prepare and superin- 
tend the execution of a plan for holding the exhlLitlon ; and, after conference with the 
authorities of the city of Philadelphia, to fix upon a suitable site within the corporate 
limits of the said city, where the exhibition shall be held. 

Sec. 3. That said commissioners shall be appointed within one year from the passage 
of this act, by the President of the United States, ^n the nominations of the governors of 
the States and Territories respectively. i 

Seo. 4. That in the same manner there shall be iippointed one commissioner from each 
State and Territory of the United States, who shall assume the place and perform the du- 
ties of such commissioner and commissioners as majy be una.blc to attend the meetings of 
the commission. ] 

Seo. 5. That the commission shall hold its meetings in the city of Philadelphia, and that 
a majority of Its members shall have full power to make all needful rales for its government. 

Sec. 6. That the commission shall report to Congress, at the first session after its a,p- 
pointment, a suitable date for opening and for closing the exhibition ; a schedule of appro- 
priate ceremonies for opening or dedicating the same ; a plan or plans, of the buildings \ 



a complete plan for the reception and classification of articles intended for exhibition ; the 
requisite custom-house regulations for the introduction into this country' of the articles 
from foreign countries intended for exhibition ; and such other matters as in their judg- 
ment may be important. 

Sec. 7. That no compensation for services shall be paid to the commissioners or other 
oflficers provided by this act from the Treasmy of the United States ; and the United States 
shall not be liable for any expenses attending- such exhibition, or by renson of the same. 

Sec. 8. That whenever the President shall be informed by the governor of the State of 
Pennsylvania that provision has been made for the ei-ection of suitable buildings for the 
purpose, and for the exclusive control by the commission herein provided for of the pro- 
posed exhibition, the President shall, through the Department of State, make proclamation 
of the same, setting forth the time at which the exhibition will open and the place at which 
it will be held ; and he shall communicate to the diplomatic representatives of all nations 
copies of the sam'e, together with such regulations as may be adopted by the commissioners, 
for publication in their respective countries. 

Mr. STOCKTON. Mr. President, it will be seen that this act was an 
act to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the birthday of this country, 
by an international exhibition, where foreign arts, manufactures, and 
products and our own could be compared. This act was introduced into 
the Senate from the Committee on Foreign Relations in 1S71. It is for 
an international exposition in its preamble ; it is for an international ex- 
position in every section of it. That is declared expressly, in its first 
section, to be its very object. It does, in conclusion, direct the President 
of the United States, when certain information in reference to the pro- 
gress of this matter shall be given him, to make a proclamation and to 
oommunicate the time, place and circumstance of the exhibition to our 
diplomatic representatives abroad, in order that they shall, in accordance 
with their duty, communicate it to the governments to which they were 
respectively accredited. This was the proposition introduced in the 
Senate of the United States in 1871, and into that proposition was in- 
corporated a proviso that the Government of the United States should 
not be made liable for any debts incurred by the parties who were to be 
trusted with the management of this matter. It was to be under the 
auspices of this Government. The executive of this Government 
was to communicate this information of time, place, and circumstance to 
foreign povrers from whose shores we had so recently come with our 
exhibitors invited in a similar manner. But the United States was 
not to be liable for the debts of this machine which was to do the 
work — a proper precaution ; very proper precaution. I have not 
looked whether that clause was in the bill when it came from the 
committee or not, nor do I care. It was an exceedingly proper pre- 
caution. The credit of the United States was not' then to be trusted, 
without a direct appropriation of money, to any set of men, no matter 
how much respected in the communities from which they came. We 
would not permit ourselves to be liable without our own consent, 
although it was to be done under the national auspices, and we wished it 
godspeed, and we commended this international exhibition to foreign 
peoples and foreign governments. 

In pursuance of this authority given by the act, the President of the 
United States having received the information which was the pre- 
requisite to his issuing this proclamation, did issue it. He did proclaim 
the time, the place, the circumstance, and the manner of this celebration, 
and a circular was sent, through the StateDepartment, to all our foreign 
representatives abroad, and they did communicate this to the governments 
to which they were accredited, and eight, I am informed, of the govern- 



ments already have cordially accepted the invitation in the same spirit 
and for the same purposes that we had accepted three invitations to visit 
their shores when they had such exhibitions. • 

But, Mr. President, out of an abundant anxiety and precaution, I pre- 
sume, or from some other motive, no doubt creditable to him, the 
Secretar}^ of State saw that these letters were being answered as if they 
had been direct invitations. Whether he had any reason to doubt that 
the invitations were perfectly understood as they were intended to be, or 
not, I am uninformed, but out of abundant precaution he did issue 
another circular, which the Senator from Pennsylvania [iVEr. Scott] 
referred to on a previous occasion, in which he cautioned our ministers 
and diplomatic agents abroad that what he had sent to them previously 
was not an invitation, but was the President's proclamation in the words of 
the act of Con2;ress, and sent to them under the order of the act of Con- 
gress, and they must go no further with it. Some gentlemen asked in 
the course of this debate why they had not all ascertained if these 
invitations were g-i^en. That last circular was also communicated to 
some of these powers, and that little delicate question as to whether that 
was an invitation, intended to be a cordial invitation or not, or whether 
it was a notice which amounted to an invitation, (when attention was 
called to it by our Government issuing another circular,) has undoubtedly 
made a little hesitation, which it was our duty to relieve one way or the 
other. It was a little matter of delicacy which any one can see, 
and of which every one in this body must be in favor of set- 
tling. Every one must be in favor of settling the question of this 
invitation with that proper courtesy and delicacy which become a great 
Government like ours, who have so recently sent their commissioners 
at great expense to foreign shores to attend their exhibitions, and who 
have so recently themselves construed such invitations and replied to 
them. 

So far as the simple matter of courtesy I say, nobody can doubt- it that 
we must relieve the country. For this purpose, and no other purpose, 
as I understand it, was the bill now before us introduced into the House 
of Representatives. The proposition in the original bill, you will recol- 
lect, was reported from the Committee on Foreign lielations, of which 
the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Sumner] was then the chair- 
man. The proposition, you remember, was for an international ex- 
position, and nothing else. The invitations, such as they were, were sent 
out in the very words of the act, and this question now arises. They 
come to Congress, and here is the littl^ question which they present to 
us. Perhaps we have erred in the very words of invitation, but you 
must have meant that in vour act ; but we do not wish to transo-ress the 
intention you have. What do you mejan by it? Shall we makeita^n 
' invitation and send it, or do you want i| stopped ? That was, as I under- 
stand it and as I have heard it iully ex{)lained before in a committee of 
which I am a member, the sole object j of the introduction of this bill 
which has led to this debate. I 

But, Mr. Presidcnt,it has become perfectly evident since the passage of 
the original act, from various circumstances which have been recalled in 
this debate, that something more must \)e done. One circumstance was 
the financial crisis that has occurred. Another wa^, if you choose to 
put it so, and it is quite possibly so, that those gentlemen of character, 



arid position, flnd-energy, who had undertaken to carry this thing through 
with this panic upon them were not receiving money sufficient for this 
purpose in the way they had iioped. Put it that way if you choose, and 
now tliey come here to this Congress, and having accepted the charge of 
this international exhihition given to them by this body, they tell us of 
this delicacy about the invitation. They say, *' In considering the 
question of whether you are going to invite these people, to confirm, in 
other words, the invitation, shall it be ordered so as to confirm what we 
have done or not ? AVe tell you frankly that an element in that considera- 
tion is whare we are to get the mone3^ We do not want this to be a 
failure. It shall not be a failure. We mc^an it shall be a success. AVe 
do not know where to get the money. At all events the people do not 
come forward and give us the money as thoy would do if they knew that 
Congress would not help us. Therefore, although you are not liable, in 
the very words of your act, although Congress is not pecuniarily liable 
for one single act we do, for one single contract we make, knowing that 
we cannot make them liable, we come to 3'ou and say to you that until 
vou tell us whether you want it to be a a'reat international entertain- 
ment or not, whether you mean to approve of these invitations and until 
you tell usiNvhether 3^ou will make a proper appropriation for it, we are 
afraid to go on.*' And, Mr. President, with that frankness, that hon- 
esty, and that truthi'ulness of statement in rei'erence to these events^ 
which prevented this thing from having even the appearance of a snare 
or a deception, it was charged upon instantly in this body as an appro- 
priation bill in disguise. On the very first morning when the question 
was wh.ether it should be brought up or not, when tlie officer presiding 
ruled time after time that an}^ discussion of the measure was out of 
order. Senators in this body on both sides of politics jumped to their feet 
and insisted upon arguing that it was an appropriation bill in disguise ; 
that it vras unconstitutional ; that, as a Senator said yesterday, it violated 
public propriety ! 

Mr. President, I have said loathe veiy best of my ability, in the fewest 
words I could, this much ab^ut the liistory of this matter in the opening 
of the few remarks I have to ofi^'er in ^'indication of the character and 
action of those gentlemen whose, patriotism has made thom willinir to 
accept this trust, and who, from their })fominence in all virtues, have 
had this trust forced upon them by their fellow-citizens and by the power 
to Avhom you entrusted the selectioii. JSTow, sir, wliile I trust that I shall 
discuss the few points that seem to me to be necessary to be discussed 
in this rjuestion with the quietness and calmness becoming my position 
in the Senate. I will say that I felt mortified as an 'American Senator 
that the question whetlier we should make a national or international 
exhibition of this; and the other question, whether we had gone too far 
to retract; tlie question of the proper way to celebiate the Fourth of 
July; the question of whether we should at^his time appropriate money 
or not for such a purpose, could not be calmly and quietly discussed 
without having charges made on the gentlemen who have told you 
80 fra«nkly and simply their story with an honesty that pertains to 
them; and that those gentlemen of the Senate who felt it their duty from 
natural impulses, or from the instruction of their Legislatures at liome, 
or the fcelingof their people, to present the matter to you for your judg- 
ment, Bhould ])e forced to Jieten to the suggebtion that an attempt was 



being made to deceive any man in this body, while the proposers of this 
bill have run with hot haste to prevent even that suspicion. 

Mr. President, the Senator from Ohio who spoke yesterday, [Mr. 
Thurman,] whom I regret not to see in his seat now, it is well known 
occupies a position in the democratic party not excelled by any man on 
this floor or elsewhere; and if it is not well known it ought to be that 
there is no gentleman in that party on this floor or elsewhere whom I 
respect and esteem more, and from whom I so unwillingly differ, partic- 
ularly on a constitutional point. That Senator comes here full of years 
and full of experience; he comes here having served in the House of 
Kepresentatives before his advent here, and comes to us now again for a 
new term, indorsed by the demo<;racy of Ohio. His position is proud; 
he has a right to speak, and speak authoritatively; and therefore, when 
that Senator rose yesterday to speak on this bill, and I was making an 
effort to obtain the floor, 1 most cheerfully and readily yielded to him; 
not from courtesy to him alone, I regret to say, but because I desired, 
before I opened my mouth on this questi(iin in the Senate, to know and 
hear what were the views of my learned and distinguished friend from 
Ohio. 

I regret to say that the expressions and the constitutional arguments 
which he brought forward alike failed to convince my mind or affect my 
judgment. The Senator took three "positions," as he called them, or 
perhaps four. The first position was, that as to this celebration and the 
appropriation of money for it — for he said this motion to refer to the 
Committee on Appropriations means appropriating money — he wm fully 
convinced that the bill, as proposed to be amended, would be unconsti- 
tutional. He said that if it were not unconstitutional he would go, with 
all his heart, for a national exhibition. He apologized for not expressing 
with ardor and enthusiasm and devotion his affection for his country and 
her natal day. He said he would scorn himself if he felt it necessary?' to 
parade such feelings as those before the public in his vindication. But it 
was alone, and he repeated it more than once, on the ground that his con- 
stitutional view, his solemn duty as a sworn Senator here, prevented his 
giving that vote which his heart led him to give, which his heart was 
urging him to give — it was on that ground alone that he could not sup- 
port the bill. 

Mr. President, I cannot believe that distinguished Senator; that is, I 
cannot believe that he knew himself when he said he would scorn him- 
self if he could give expression to that love of country and patriotism which 
ten minutes afterward burst from his glowing lips. I cannot believe that 
when every gentleman in the Senate, and the whole audience and the 
American people, heard with pleasure, and gratitude, and approbation, 
his eloquent and glowing words, |he alone, of all the world, was despis- 
ing himself for his utterances. I respect him too much to believe that 
he is so unfortunate to think that we believe he scorns himself for one 
patriotic word he ever uttered in all his life. 

But, Mr. President, what a curious thing it is to see how great men's 
minds, filled for years past with constitutional constructions and desirous 
to explain properly and construe it rightly, finally become afilicted with 
a mania, until they look at every little bill, look where it cannot be found, 
for concealed violations of its provisions. These gentlemen discover diffi- 
culties which exist only in their heated imaginations. 0, how I shoukl 



8 

like to have seen my friend before he made tip his mind, so much as he 
savs against his heart, to take the course he has taken on this bill, to 
have said a few little things to him. He asks *' Where do you find the 
power under the Constitution to vote away the public money for an ex- 
hibition, national or international?" Has any Senator pointed him to a 
clause of the 'Constitution ? Then he assumes that some Senator would 
point him to the clause concerning the general welfare. He says the 
clause authorizing Congress to provide for the general welfare is not a 
substantive clause, and has not been construed so. He says it is a clause 
dependent upon the power of taxation ; that the power of taxation is a 
substantive clause and is unlimited. And j^et the clause attached to it, 
he says, should have written before it " in order" to make it dependent. 
Let him have this construction ; then there is the unlimited power to tax 
in order to provide for the general welfare. There is no man stricter in 
his construction of the Constitution than myself, but I do like to start 
with that little grain of common sense which it is wise to use in most 
affairs of life; and I 'cannot see but that "the general welfare" is within 
certain limits just such a question as in any court of law would be con- 
sidered as a matter of fact. 

What is "the general welfare?" Where is the court to decide what 
is " the general welfare," when the Constitution has given us an unlim- 
ited power to tax for the general welfare? " Well," says a Senator from 
another State, or perhaps the same Senator, "do you mean to say that 
that clause is unlimited; that we can do anything we please, which we 
think is for the general welfare?" No; I do not. It is limited by the 
meaning of the words " general welfare.'.' It is limited, as every other 
clause in the Constitution dependent and substantive is limited, by the 
proper construction of the words used and the'sense they were used in ; 
and that Senator who, sitting here, will vote away the public money for 
the general welfare without putting in his heart and exercising his judg- 
ment, to ascertain whether by precedent, whether by a proper construc- 
tion of the v^ords, it is for the general welfare, is simply violating his 
duty smd his oath. Is it for the general welfare that a tax should be 
raised for this purpose ? That is the question under this clause. 

We cannot make w-ords any more definite. The Congress of the 
United States are m.ade by the Constitution the judges whether a tax 
levied is for the public welfare. It may possibly in the beginning, as 
much as anything else, have meant a union of these States in matters 
of foreign commerce, in matters of r>roteetion against Indians and 
others; "and as the range became more vast, it may mean other things; 
but what that "general welfare" is, and whether taxes are properly levied 
for that purpose, in order to maintain it, is a question for every Sena- 
tor's own conscience. Yes, sir, it is a question for the conscience of 
every Senator, and that is a tribunal from which there is a court of ap- 
peal even on earth. There may be no court of appeals from his con- 
science that violatea the construction he adopts; but there is a court of 
appeal when the House of Representatives come before the people bien- 
niallv tor election,'and it is felt in every fiber of this body and the other. 
Every man who votes on this bill does so knowing that the people are 
asking us "what we are doing with the public money," and are crying 
for economy; and that is the constitutional tribunal; that is the con- 
eeivative feature that is held over the judgment of Senators and Mem- 



bers when they are called upon to construe the meaning of voting 
money for the general welfare. 

But, Mr. President, I do not take the position, nor do I mean to 
put myself on the record as taking the position, that this appropriation 
should he placed among those statutes which are passed for the general 
welfare. It may be so. It might be that if driven to it I might take 
that position. But that being the clause in the Constitution to which 
the Senator from Ohio alluded, as in my humble judgment he failed to 
show by his argument that it would not authorize what we are doing, I 
have deemed it proper to reply to him on that clause and yet I have no 
desire to enlarge the powers claimed under it. But I do esteem 
that we have the absolute and perfect right, under that portion of the 
Constitution which gives us power to regulate commerce with foreio-Q 
nations and between the States, to establish a building for the purpose 
of exhibiting the arts and products of other nations in comparison with 
the arts and products of this country; and if we have not, if we have 
not stretched the power to regulate commerce away beyond that, if 
precedent after precedent cannot be produced to show that this is no 
stretch whatever of power, then I am misinformed, and my reading has 
been to very little purpose. 

If I recollect aright, the Articles of Confederation gave to Congress 
no power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and between the 
States. My impression is that one of our ministers in France commu- 
nicated to one of the members of the convention forming the Constitu- 
tion, that one of the most important things to be done was to see to it 
that the new government had power to regulate commerce with foreign 
nations; because itw\as manifest that if each one of these separate sov- 
ereignties, which -were united together and bound together only by the 
Articles of Confederation, was unrestrained in reference to carrying on 
commerce with any foreign nation, starting in a career of rivalry, with . 
one another, such places as the ports of Kew Jersey, Jersey City, and 
New York, the mouth of the Delaware, and such place? as had great 
openings to the sea, could make for themselves such treaties, such ar- 
rangements, such regulations for foreign commerce, as to use it for their 
own benefit alone, and at the expense of all the other States. As this 
country became developed and one State gave territorj^ vast enouo^h to 
make an empire, which has been since formed into other States, and as 
the population landing on the sea shore in our great ports has flown 
back, and since Chicago and the western cities were made absolatelv 
ports of entry, so that the goods laqded at Jersey City are sent in balk 
to those cities, the value of this clause has been seen; and it is the West that 
is protected, and they who have no gates on the sea that are benefited by 
the power that we yielded, not for our advantange, to thecentral Govern- 
ment to control foreign commerce, and it was then inserted, and wiselv 
inserted, that the same control shou(d exist over interstate commerce. 

Mr. President, a part of this exhibition is' the introduction of foreif^n 
goods. It will not be disputed that Congress, which establishes 
duties, which has levied duties, and taken them ott^* for specific purposes, 
can tcike oii'the duties on goods sent to this exhibition. It will not be 
disputed that Congress can establish and build bonded warehouses. It 
will not be disputed, certainly not by the Senators who sit around me, 
that Congress, under a power us limited in scope as the power to estub- 



10 

lish a Supreme Court and suclnnferior jurisdictions as it should find neces- 
sary, iias gone into the States and into Territories ; has bought lands ; has 
put upon them public buildings; has spent millions and millions of dollars, 
nearly $10,000,000 within the last few years, to erect buildings for dis- 
trict judges to sit in, who are not constitutional judges but created by 
Congress. And where is the power in Congress to put up these build- 
ings for court-houses? It rests on the clause authorizing Congress to 
create jurisdictions inferior to the Supreme Court. There is not one word 
in the Constitution that tells you that these inferior courts shall be courts 
with grand juries and petit juries, and crowds of suitors attending them 
60 that there is no building in a town large enough to liold them, so that 
in those places you are necessarily driven to put up buildings to hold the 
courts. The Constitution does not saj^ that you must establish such courts. 
It is onl}^ such inferior jurisdiction — inferior jurisdiction consistent 
with the Constitution, ray -friends will say. Where does the power come 
from which has been exercised always? It cumes from that one grain of 
common sense with which I proposed to start, and which the courts have 
called in other cases '' incidental power." 

When a private corporation is chartered by any Legislature in this coun- 
try, and power is given it to do certain acts, say to make a railroad from, 
one place to another, in section after section proceeds to give it the inci- 
dental power to carry out the purposes for which the act was passed, if 
it did not give those powers, it would have them still just the same. 
And yet the whole policy of the law has been from the origin of such 
corporations that everything shall be construed in favor of the grantor 
and against the grantee, and these incidental powers are construed with 
the greatest possible strictness ; the court never permits anything to be 
inferred but an absolutely necessary inference; and on that learning the 
body of the common law is built. So time and necessity has led the 
strictest constructionists of the Constitution to admit that it was an inci- 
dental power to have a building in w^hich you could hold a court if you 
had authoritv to have a court there. 

Now let us look briefly at other precedents and the course of things in 
reference to the question I am speaking of. As far back as 1836 an ap- 
propriation was passed for an expedition to the South Sea Islands. 
We all remember that subsequently there was an appropriation made to 
assist the sufferers by earthquake in Venezuela. There was an appro- 
priation, for which I think some of these objecting Senators voted, to 
fit out the Polaris to go to the ]S"orth Pole. We have since then sent 
three sets of commissioners abroad to world's fairs, to London, to Paris, 
and Vienna. We have. spent, I suppose, on each one of these exhibitions 
more than half a million of dollars. The two vessels that went to Vienna 
under the orders of Congress must have cost the Navy Department over 
^250,000. When those agents whom we had sent to Paris came back, 
we published in six large and beautiful volumes their reports. Those 
reports were in such demand that members of Congress were importuned, 
and all their Bup[)ly was exhausted. The cpuntry to-da} is thankful ibr 
them ; they are exceedingh^ valuable; and no one regrets that they were 
published. 

Under what power was all this done? Was it in the general welfare ? 
Was it commerce? Forei2:n commerce? Intercourse? Intercourse 
with loreign nations? Or intercourse between the States? The Su- 



11 

prerae Court has construed the commercial clause over and over again, 
in many cases. They have given it an enlarged and extensive meaninc, 
which I think is dangerous in many cases of private transactions, and 
which I have combated, to the best of iny ability, professionally. Under 
the construction they have given, it means intercourse with foreign na- 
tions. If the act of 1871, introduced by the Committee on Foreig-n Rela- 
tions, in its preamble, in every section of it, in its direction to the Presi- 
of the United States, and in the communication of his proclamation to 
the ministers abroad, is not directly on the subject of regulating inter- 
course with foreign nations, I have no means of construins^ in mv mind 
what was meant by that expression when it was used in the Constitution. 

The Senator from Ohio on this floor, in my presence, and opposed by 
me, feebly asTwas able to do it at the time, advocated a bill authorizing 
the Government of the United States to condemn land in a city of his 
own State, without the authority of the State, for the purpose of put- 
ting a public buildinig; on it. Yerih% it seems to me in this he strained 
at a gnat and swallowed a camel. I could not swallow that camel no'^*^^ 
do I think any other demoeratic Senator swallowed it. But when it 
was an appropriation for a public building in the State of Ohio, he adi- 
vocated the doctrine that the United States had a right to condemi!^ 
land; but with all the patriotism and fervor which he showed yester- 
day; with all the constraint that he had at being controlled by his strict 
construction and his devotion to the Union, he could not get over this 
little gnat, and he said nobody in the Senate had yet pointed out to his 
enlightened and experienced mind under what clause of the Constitu- 
tion we, the American people, could celebrate the Fourth of July! 

But, Mr. President, I have been led to discuss this constitutional 
question accidentally from referring to a remark of the Senator fron"i 
Ohio. The Senator from Ohio proceeded a little further: He then told 
370U, with a pathos, that was equal to his previous eloquence, how he had 
seen the clerks of the Treasury Department, with tears in their eyes, 
passing by his windov^'S ; his soul was melted with sympathy; and hi^ 
appealed to us stony-hearted men w^ho were willing to vote away thf^ 
public mone}^ to celebrate the Fourth of July, while certain persons,, 
clerks, were being discharged from the Treasury Department! I am 
sure that every Senator must have been affected by such an appeal. [ 
did not know until the Senator from Ohio had assumed that position 
that the object of the Government was to support Treasury clerks. 
did not know that we had become an eleemosynary institution. I d\\ 
not know that places in the Treasury Department were meant for thL 
beneiit of individuals, but thought rather that they were employed by- 
the Government to do a certain duty, and when the Government did 
not need them, hard as their fate might be, they would have to seek 
employment elsewhere. It also occurred to me while he was speaking, 
that perhaps if it would cost |10,000,000 or $20,000,000 to carry on this 
exhibition, th.ese poor clerks, these men and women with tears in their 
eyes, might find employment in connection with this exposition when 
nothing else was doing and everything was paralyzed. I have heard of 
public vv'orks being set on foot to relieve the poor in times of panic and 
distress. 

But, Mr. President, remember that the Senator from Ohio had told 
you, in the ipost emphatic wajj that he would vote for this bill if he did 



not believe it was unconstitutional; that he was restrained by no other 
motive. Is that consistent? Did he stop to think whether, as he said, 
this was not the time to take money out of the Treasury; whether he 
thought we ought to be more economical; whether he tlioiight it might 
cost a certain amount of mone}^ when the money was needed in other 
places, had nothing to do with the constitutionalit}^ of the bill ; and 
therefore that argument was inconsistent with the one which he had 
before advanced. His patriotism might have over(3«ome this difficulty 
if the constitutional question was out of the way. 

But, Mr. President, the Senator from Ohio also objected to the inter- 
national character of this exposition. On the very first occasion when 
this matter was introduced before the Senate, the Senator from Massa- 
chusetts, who, as I am informed, was chairman of the Committee on 
Foreign Relations when the original bill was presented, also objected to 
it on account of its international character. The Senator from Nevada 
who has just taken his seat, yesterday and to-day, laughed at the idea of 
its international character. Gentlemen have talked about our celebra- 
ting the Fourth of July in the eyes of foreigners ; and my distinguished 
friend from California read to vou a caricature from Martin Chuzzlewit 
of scenes that were witnessed in New York, where newspapers professed 
to tell the stories of private families; where the popular prejudices and 
passions and false sentiments were catered to until they were disgusting. 
He read you that caricature, and then told you that he did not want 
these people here at that time, because we were going to have a presi- 
dential election in 1876, and what would you do with the princes and 
potentates of the earth here in the midst of a presidential canvass, in the 
midst of the passions which would certainly be aroused by it? Gen- 
tler, kinder than those who spoke in the same direction, much more 
thoughtful and delicate in his mind ; thoughtful as the children of Noah, 
he would walk backwards and cover a naked parent. Sir, I am not 
ashamed of the American people. I am not ashamed of them in 
comparison with any other people, on the Fourth of July or on any other 
day; on presidential electioLs or any other occasions. I do not deny 
that scenes take place here and in everv £freat city on occasions of excite- 
raent which would make Christianity shudder anywhere. 'JMiat is an 
unfortunate accompaniuicnt uf human nature. It exists everywhere >^ 
and, until tlie millennium comes and we have something more than 
human laws, perfect as they may be, to wipe out such stains and pre- 
vent such scenes, we cannot hope to live without them. 

But I should not allude to this matter simply to show my sense of 
what I consider unfortunate remarks in this debate by gentlemen 
who hav'e preceded me, had I not a direct purpose to reach. I may be 
wrong in regard to the taste of the Senator from California, or the 
Senator i'rom Ohio, or tlie Senator from Kentucky. Tliey may under- 
stand this matter better than I do. It is not a matter of judgment ; it is 
a matter of impulse. But what I d^esire to call the attention of the 
Senate to is the great wrong, the great injustice, that has been done to 
the advoates of this bill, both in and out of this body, and to the cause of 
truth and justice, by allowing the debate to lun into such a false chan- 
nel, running there not by any design I know, but running there b}' one 
Senator after another taking up and continuing a train of thought that 
he had just heard before. I think that the Senator from Massachusetts 



-< 



13 

[Mr. Sumner] introduced this idea. If he did not, I should be glad to 
be corrected. I think the gentleman from whose committee the original 
bill came, every lineand word of which you will recollect is international, 
the gentleman who comes from Massachusetts, was he who originally 
suggested how incongruous it would be to have this an international 
exhibition, and who opposed this matter of invitation first, and who has 
the credit of being the brains which these other distinguished gentlemen 
have followed. , 

An international exhibition was provided for by the bill which he 
reported, and which, as I am informed, passed the Senate nemme con- 
tradicenle, to which every one of you is committed as far as the honor of 
the country is concerned, as far as the credit of the nation in getting at 
it in the proper way is concerned, for you all sat silent and passed the 
bill. The President of the United States did nothing under the bill but 
what you told him to do. You admitted that it was international in every 
line of it, from the preamble down. As soon as the question comes up 
to direct an invitation to issue, the Senator from Massachusetts suggests 
that this invitation which called to us the presence of princes, poten- 
tate?, and powers in such numbers, a formidable procession so unsuitable 
to the celebration of our centennial anniversary, such as John Adams 
thought it was going to be, that it will be a mockery to ifivite them and 
a shnme to us to have them here. I, of course, do not give his words, 
but this I gathered to be his idea. 

Mr. President, I do wish the Senator from Massachusetts had given 
me that idea before I became one of the individuals who accepted the 
invitation when the measure came in from his committee originally. I 
should have thanked him lor it, because I do not like to go back on an 
invitation given to gentlemen who have invited me, and at whose dinner- 
table I have enjoyed hospitality at their cost, and then to invite them, 
and tell them subsequently that they misunderstood it; that we did not 
mean to invite them, because the gentleman from whom the invitation 
came had changed his mind ! I do not propose to permit myself to be 
put in such a position, or to assist in putting my country in a position 
that I would not be put in myself We have a national character, and 
not only a national honor, but a national propriety and decency to main- 
tain in our reciprocity with the other nations of the world, and I am not 
only not ashamed of it, but am honestly proud of it; and the record of 
ours can compare with that of any other nation on this globe. 

I was going to say that the Senator from Massachusetts brings forward 
a long list of these princes and potentates. I recollect that he called on 
the Khedive of Egypt, who was to come here, and I think there was the 
eagle with one head, and the eagle with two heads, and the Gallic eagle, 
the eagle that swept over Marengo, and the eagle that saw the sun of 




were to crawl in and take their places. It reminded me very much of 
the opera coraique. They w®re to take their places representing these 
sovereigns. It reminded me also of a little geography book I once 
studied, where 1 saw a queen, sitting with a crown on her head and a 
scepter in her hand, and under it was written that little children ought 
not to want to be kings and queens for they had such a dull time, always 



14 

itting with a heavy crown ou their heads and a scepter in their hands ! 
That was the argument, nothing else, presented to the Senate of the 
United States, that under this invitation, asking foreign governments 
"o send exhibitors, (invitations which we had accepted three times, and in 
espouse to which we had sent three sets of commissioners, and for which 
vve had appropriated millions of dollars) — when we gave an exposition it 
should not be international, but be national ; because, in the fivst place, it 
would cost too much; in the next place, we were not fit to receive, in 
person, all this royalty, who would be really intruding on us, because 
we have no palaces. We have no places for them to sit in proper 
state with their heavy crowns on their heads, and the big scepters in 
their hands ! That was the argument ; and not one of the Senators has 
really exposed its flimsy sophistry. It is simply answered by this: it 
is not true. There has never been anv such invitation sent. There has 
never been any proposition to send such an invitation. There has been 
no countrv that ever thousrht of such an invitation. The act did not 
authorize it, and that Mr. Fish was more than careful in correcting what 
might possibly have been a mistake in the invitation is apparent from 
every paper before us. I do not complain of the Senator from Massa- 
chusetts in presenting his own view of the question in the way he did ; 
but I do complain when he presents so strongly and forcibly, by such illus- 
trations, that the Senate of the United States were caught in such a trap, 
particularly when that bill, international in ^^q^y^ line, aiid authorizing 
the only invitation that ever has been given, or ever was proposed to be 
given, came, from that Senator. 

Mr. President, I do not wish to occupy any more time, but there is 
one word that I will say in conclusion. I ask Senators to listen to me for 
one moment more. Throwing aside all the nonsense which I may have 
spoken, and which others possibly may have spoken in this debate, I 
want to say one thing. Here is a proposition from honorable-minded 
men whom you perhaps have assisfod in getting into a strait; but if 
they are in a strait, they are not to blame. To them you have in some 
measure intrusted the honor and character of your country, for j'ou 
said it was to be under your auspices. They do not ask you for a dol- 
lar, but ask you to advise them what they have to do. If you choose 
to advise them that you do not want the celebration gone on with, you 
have the same share in it precisely, and so has every member of this 
Congress. The only possible injury you can do these gentlemen is that, 
you have wasted a good deal of their time uselessly, and they will be 
obliged to lose the hope of perhaps credit and reward in the way of 
thanks from a grateful country, and a large amount has been spent to 
which they have individually contributed. 

The Senator from Kentucky in his opening remarks stated that, al- 
though it had been said that his State had instructed him on this ques- 
tion, he was not satisfied that is was so; but he made the further remark 
that he would not vote for this bill if he was instructed ; that he would re- 
sign his seat before he would vote for this bill. Well, Mr. President, the 
Legislature of my State has instructed me, and it has instructed me by 
a perfectly unanimous vote, and I understand a unanimous vote after 
every member understood what the question was, not passing rtemine con- 
iradicente in the ordinary way, but after a thorough understanding. I am 
told every member of the Legislature of New Jersey is in favor of this 



16 

proposition. I do not speak of any particular form, biit in favor of an 
appropriation by Congress for this purpose. I stated to you on a previ- 
ous occasion that that Legislature, which I regret to say is republican at 
the present moment in its party politics, has voted a considerable appro- 
priation for a little State like ours, more money than our share, dividing 
it proportionately among the States, by twenty or thirty thousand dol- 
lars. They have made that in the lower house, since this debate has been 
in progress, by an amendment, payable only on condition of either an 
appropriation by Congress, or at least success being assured .There is a 
conditon by which it is lost if this work does not in a brief period go on. 
Being so instructed, if I did not agree with my constituents — and this 
was not a party question — I should hesitate, believing that there was no 
constitutional question involved, not to obey their wishes. Even where I 
had doubts on a small constitutional point which I could not solve, and 
the. Legislature of my State, with perfect unanimity, understanding what 
they were doing, told me that they wished me to vote for an appro- 
priation to enable them to celebrate the Fourth of July, 1876, in Inde- 
pendence Hall, I would vote so. I would not take a scruple or a grain 
of doubt that I had in reference to the construction of a clause which 
has been construed by abler, wiser and better men than myself, other- 
wise, against the unanimous opinion and vote of all parties in my own 
Legislature, I can see and rCvspect the proposition of the Senator from 
Kentucky, that is, I might be placed in such circumstances that I would 
rather resign than obey instructions. If the question of the public 
security, or the right of private property, or a question that involved 
the great principles of the nation on which I was very decided in my 
views, were involved, and I should be instructed by a party that had 
come into power behind me in the Legislature, of course I should pay 
no attention to them ; but if instrued by my own party, I should then 
feel it my duty to resign or to obey them, or to solve for myself at that 
moment the difficult question h<^w far instructions should control my ac- 
tion here. 

You will recollect that the Senator from Ohio said he would have 
scorned himself if he had been enthusiastic on this subject, and yet 
he is a kind and generous man. If, coming from where I do, under 
these circumstances I should run back for one single moment to some 
reminiscences recalled to me in this debate, and particularly recalled to 
me by the Senator himself, perhaps the other Senators will excuse me, 
as well as the Senator from Ohio. 

Two or three Senators have alluded to the death of Jefferson and the 
death of John Adams. The Senator from Massachusetts, with that learn- 
ing and erudition which shed light upon all questions, and particularly 
questions like this, has told us the anecdote in reference to the letter of 
John Adams ; and the Senator from Ohio only yesterday told us how 
the words put by Daniel Webster, on the occasion of his oration in 
eulogy of Adams and Jefferson, into the mouth of John Adams, were 
not Webster's words, but were words simply altered for the occasion or 
paraphrased, written on that day by John Adams in privacy to his wife- 
Through the thick gloom of the present I see the brightness of the future as the sun 
in heaven. We shall make this a glorious and immortal clay. When we are in our graves 
our children wOl honor it. They will celebrate it with bonfires and illuminations, with 
tears, gushing tears, not of slavery and distress, not of agony, but grateful, thanldul tears 
oi joy. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 930 453 7 

On tlieeemi-centenniai celebration of the result of the prediction of what 
that day did bring forth, we still recall that on the fiftieth anniversary of 
that day Adams died in the middle of the commemoration and while 
the bonfires and illuminations were still lighted, and there were tears,' 
copious, gushing tears — not of joy, for there the prophecy failed — but 
Jefi:erson on the same day and hour was numbered with the dead, and 
so the eulogist said. So that day shall be honored. Illustrious prophet 
and patriot, so that day shall be honored. And as oft as it returns thy 
renown shall come along with it, and the glory of thy life, like the day 
of thy death, shall never fade from the memory of men. 

And, sir, the people of the little State where the battle of Princeton 
was fought, and the little spot which is my home on the other side of 
the Delaware, within sight of where Washington crossed, in the dark 
and trying days of December, the plains of Monmouth, where one of our 
own maidens, like the Maid of Saragossa, when her chief was slain, shed 
no ill-timed tears, but filled his fatal post, cannot forget that they too shared 
in the glories of Independence Hall. They will not forget that this is 
the time, that Independence Hall is the place, and that the international 
exhibition in which we have embarked, is the manner of the celebration ; 
and they are willing to put their hands in their pockets and sacrifice all 
their little earnings, and set an example of doing it, in order that the 
rest of the nation may feel the same. "^ 

One other thing, Mr. President, and I am done. Sad scenes have 
passed since then. We have had to number many a name with the 
storied names we nurtured in earlier time. We have had in the last few 
years many a dissevered family, many a broken heart, iN'orthand South. 
Many comrades have been slaughtered whom I care not to recall in these 
halls. Younger and sister States, the Western States, whose people have 
gone out and settled from the Old Thirteen, may remember that it is not 
wise for strength and manhood to trample on the parent that cherished 
their infancy ; they may remember that we of the Old Thirteen, hold- 
ing still the gate that lead to the control of foreign commerce, and bring 
vessels to these shores freighted for their good as well as ours, ask very 
little when they ask that they will come to Independence Hall and help 
us to recall with them the memories of the past. It will be a bond that 
will seal up many a trouble that may be brewing between the East and 
the West; it will be a bridge that will bridge the chasm of which poli- 
ticians have spoken for six or eight years; it will be a bridge that will 
cover that chasm into which I do not wish to look. 



On the rice-fields of fair Carolina, 

The head of the matron is bowed ; 
The sire takes down his old inatcli-lock, 

An .I back the old memories crowd. 
He thinks of the glory of Sumter, 

The valor of ^Nlariou's men, 
And his heart leaps the gulf in an instant, 

That yawns 'twixt the now and the then. 



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019 930 453? 



